Many families that bring home an American Girl Doll or other 18 inch doll suddenly find themselves overwhelmed with the clothes, furniture, and other accessories that all go with these dolls. Finding a space for all these new toys can be overwhelming. So, when the subject came up in our group, there was a lot of interest in the subject. I did some research on American Girl Dollhouses and compiled it here in my blog for you to read and become inspired.
To begin, when considering a house for your doll, should you buy one or build one? Here are some of your options when buying a dollhouse. I went to the American Girl website shopping site and tried to search for a dollhouse, I found no results. To keep it basic, I found many other options that begin with one room. Or even what are called scenes or sets. Doll sets are a type of backdrop for the doll that allow your child to interact with the doll and have a theme or room set for her to pretend play in. An example would be Isabelle’s Studio. These can range in price, and size. But scenes are designed for the individual doll. American Girl has a few of these type sets. As is the case with Isabelle’s Studio-they can be very pricey $275.00 for her studio as of today.
If you collect more than one doll, you may find yourself wanting something more to store your doll and her accessories in. Searching these elusive dollhouses online can prove to be a challenge. One site is called Etsy and they are a site like Ebay but cater to the handmade products and services. On Etsy-search using the terms 18” Dollhouse, (you can search using this term on Google or other sites as well) you can find a few custom manufactures of the dollhouses themselves. The prices at the most expensive were $3,000.00 down to $595.00 on Etsy for a fully built dollhouse or to order one custom built. Most require you to be able to pick up the dollhouse or will deliver it for a fee within a certain radius of their location. Some custom built houses include furniture, paint, décor or accessories such as lighting, and storage room. Some are basic, walls and roof. There are very few custom builders for your pre-built American Girl Dollhouse, I believe due to the size of the house, the weight and cost of the materials, and the installation barriers. Shipping a fully built house of this size can be done-but would cost if not as much, or more than the cost to build the house.
The only large manufacturing company I found that has overcome these barriers is called KidKraft.
Kid Kraft designed and sells a 18” dollhouse that can be found online at Walmart.com or Amazon.com. It is called the KidKraft Elegant 18 Inch Dollhouse. This dollhouse sells for approximately $235.00 with FREE shipping. An amazing deal considering the cost for a custom built wooden material one. The Kid Kraft is made 4ft tall by 5ft wide. It requires two hours to construct and reviews are relatively high-with only a few negative comments about missing parts, or the size being bigger than their child to reach the top. The kit does come with some basic furniture and accessories as well.
These are some of your options for buying a pre-built American Girl Dollhouse. My next blog post will cover the next logical option-and perhaps the more exciting option of building your own American Girl Doll house!Be notified when my next blog is published by signing up for a free service called Bloglovin using the link on my blog. Subscribe to my blog as well as, many other American Girl themed blogs all in one spot! Receive email's when they post and or create your own blog for free!
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